The award-winning family-run Wolverhampton pub that is a hit with the community

That is exactly what licensees Emma and Terry Cole have aimed to provide since taking over seven years ago.

The couple took over from Emma's parents, Sue and Keith Fullwood, who had been at the establishment for 10 years by then.

The pub has been inundated with awards and nominations, which is a testament to the hard work that has gone into making the Royal Oak a fantastic pub that is deserving of the recognition it has received.

Some of the awards that the pub has won include Marston's pub of the year in 2019 and Marston's Community Spirit pub of the year in 2022.

The couple were named among the top 15 licensees in the country in 2020, and Emma held the award for best mild for CAMRA in Wolverhampton and Staffordshire.

Terry says so much hard work has gone into getting the pub to where it is today, and that work continues. "If you want to run a successful pub you cannot just open the doors and sit there, you have to be there working at it, always present.

"We have worked really hard to get here. One of us is always in the pub working, talking with customers, making them feel welcome.

"This has to be done as your customer base is the community, and so you have to keep them on your side and help them out.

"When running a pub you have to care for people and show that you want to do things to help and support otherwise you won't get the business, and we genuinely do care for people and everything that we do."

The couple run numerous campaigns for charity, including a recent 26-mile walk around the football stadiums in the Midlands, Emma running 10k charity races and events in the pub itself.

They do it because they genuinely care and want to help people wherever and however they can.

The family are passionate about their pub and using the platform and business to be able to help others, and they see it as a main part of their business being able to host events, run charity campaigns, and they even have two sports clubs, a Sunday league football team and a netball team - all because they like to be out there in the community doing as much as they can.

Their work does not go unnoticed as customers recognise just how much they care, and the support is reciprocated, which has made the Royal Oak on Compton Road a staple amongst the community.

Terry adds: "It is who we are as people, so we will take an interest in our customers, get to know their names, have conversations with them.

"We have two boys and they also will be around the pub, get to know everyone's name, sit and have a chat, it embodies what we and the pub stand for.

"Don't get me wrong, it is draining, running a pub isn't easy - but we give our 100 per cent all the time, you have to.

"But we make sure to take time out during our day to go to the gym, re-charge our batteries and then get back to it.

"We enjoy doing what we do, and it is a lifestyle more than a job because you have to be prepared to give up things such as social events that you get invited to.

"You can't suddenly drop running the pub and go out with friends, you have to plan ahead, but we also have an awesome team of staff here as well who all help.

"There are so many reviews online about how amazing our staff are, how knowledgeable they are, and that is something we like to do.

"We call it the 'Oak way', by ensuring our staff are friendly, knowledgeable, happy and want to be a part of the business.

"People have really brought into the business and they believe in the Oakers, and they believe they are the Oakers.

"We even sell hoodies and t-shirts with the Oakers branding, and it ties in with our sports teams as people believe in our identity."

The family are from Wolverhampton and they have a great relationship with Wolves fans - on matchdays, Terry described the Royal Oak as an extension of Molineux, as they welcome hundreds of fans in knowing they will get a good pint and atmosphere.

It hasn't always been easy for the couple though; as with all pubs up and down the country, they faced uncertainty and a tough period due to the Covid pandemic and now the cost of living crisis.

Terry says: "This was my first time running a pub, whilst Emma had been here since 2006 when her parents ran it, but I gave up my job in logistics as it was Emma's dream to have the pub and so we both worked together to fulfil her dream.

"It took around six months to get into it properly, taking a lot of hard work, but it is a really popular pub and so that eased the process.

"Since the Covid years it was really tough as pubs were hit with the most guidelines on how we could run, more than any other industry.

"It took some work to get people's confidence back, and at first we could only get 26 people in at a time which a business cannot survive on.

"So we used that time to build an outdoor bar area which holds up to 130 people seated, decorated it nicely with flowers and furniture, so it has become a nice place to relax for our customers.

"The whole Covid time wasn't easy though, and we find that we still need to win some people's confidence back that they can come out and socialise.

"And now we have the rising bills, for which we were quite lucky at first as we had a contract, but we have had increases.

"Everything seems to be ticking over okay at the moment, as we have tried to keep our prices low and we're not massively expensive.

"We like to serve good milds, bitters, predominantly Marston's beers, but we also have a guest ale too, so we focus on good food, good drink and making it a great atmosphere for people to enjoy.

"We don't serve food, just bar snacks such as the occasional sausage rolls, scotch eggs, and we have around 16 varieties of crisps available.

"We are known for having the best crusty cobs in the area though, which people enjoy, and so it all comes together to make the Royal Oak a great place to visit."

The pub certainly is popular with locals, and people from far and wide, which again is a testament to the hard work that has gone into making it the place it is today, and the award nominations point to that.

The Royal Oak pub is up for another award on September 19 - it is going for the Great British pub of the year, which Terry hopes they can bring home.